Archive for
October, 2010

It’s rare to find much to be cheerful about in the current climate surrounding Higher Education, but I was very pleased to see that at least two North American colleges are trying to recruit Old Norse specialists this year.

[They] seek candidates with expertise in the field of Old Norse literature, broadly defined. As the members of the Scandinavian Department all work across disciplines, we require that candidates for this position also exhibit expertise in a secondary field. Historically, secondary fields among our faculty have included Folklore, Film, and 18th- and 19th-century Nordic literature; we would also welcome such fields as Art History, Cultural Studies, and Comparative Literature, to offer some examples. Strong ability in a modern mainland Nordic language (Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, or Swedish) is required; ability in modern Icelandic would be a welcome plus. The candidate is expected to contribute courses to the undergraduate and graduate programs in Scandinavian that will also appeal to students working in other academic fields. Demonstrated research excellence and teaching ability are required. Ph.D. is expected to be completed by spring of 2011.

The University of Oregon Department of English seeks an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in Old English Literature. We expect the candidate to be able to teach Middle English literature; knowledge of Old Norse language and literature is also desirable. We particularly encourage candidates whose research engages issues that intersect with the interests of colleagues in other literary periods and fields; these issues include, but are not limited to, race, community and nationhood; gender and sexuality, literature and the environment.

Minimum Requirements: Ph.D. in English or related field in hand by time of appointment. Salary is competitive.

The best of luck to any readers of ONN who decide to apply. Please let us know if you hear of any similar openings in the autumn hiring season.

Kendra Willson writes (in a comment to another post, but I thought it would be better to move it to the front, so more people might see it):

Where can I find recordings of Old Norse texts with reconstructed pronunciation?

I have pointed out Raven of Denmark’s performance of part of Atlakviða
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xagMYiZ2NP0) to my students and to an actor who planned to make an audition video in Old Norse in hopes of getting a part in Mel Gibson’s film with Leonardo DiCaprio (I live in Los Angeles) before that project was suspended due to Gibson’s latest scandal. The only other recording with reconstructed pronunciation I have found online is a recitation of part of Völuspá recorded for Librivox (http://librivox.org/multilingual-poetry-collection-001/ – scroll down to Old Icelandic) by one Julian Jamison, an economist in Pacific Palisades. Are there more out there? Thanks for any tips.